And ten



v E. 1. KEITH. COMPOSITION FOR PROTECTING WIRE CABLES, ROPES, AND OTHER BEARIN APPLICATION FILED AUG.9. I918.

G SURFACES.

Patented May 27, 1919.

' bitumen or asphalt which UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EPHRAIM J. KEITH, OF SIKESTON, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF FORTY-FIVE ONE- HUNDREDTHS TO MATTHEW S. MURRAY, OF SIKESTON, MISSOURI, AND TEN ONE-HUNDREDTHS TO JAMES A. FINCH, OF NEW MADRID, MISSOURI.

COMPOSITION FOR PROTECTING WIRE CABLES, ROP ES, AND OTHER BEARING-SURFACES.

Application filed August 9,

To (1U whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EPnnAnr J. Knirir, a citizen of the United States, residing at v Sikeston, Scott county, and State of Missouri. have invented a new and useful Composition for Protecting \Vire Cables, Ropes, and other Bearing-Surfaces, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to compositions for protecting wire cables, ropes and other bearing surfaces.

An object of the invention 1s to provide a. composition which may be applied in aplastic state to wire ropes, cables, sheaves, gears, sprockets, chains and belting, and other similar operating connections and bearing surfaces in order to minimize the rapidity of wear to which such parts are subjected in ordinary use when unprotected.

I The composition includes as a base refined may be produced from either of the three states or forms in which bitumen is found. The refined bitumen or asphalt may be produced from the fluid state or condition in which it is known as naphtha or petroleum by refining it other by distillationor pressure until the volatile oils are all driven, off; or it may be produced from the semifluid or viscous state in which it is known as maltha or mineral oil; or from the solid state in which it is known as asphaltum or asphalt-by heating it until all moisture and volatile substances are driven out, leaving practically pure bitumen or asphaltie cement adapted for use in making my improved composition.

The refined bitumen or asphalt obtained by either of the above methods or by any other available process is then melted and the temperature raised to about 300 Fahrenheit, in which condition 1t is then fluxed with a petroleum residuum of a spec fic gravity of 20 to 23 Baum. Before being injected into the bitumen the petroleum residuum is heated to a temperature near that of the melted bitumen and is then fluxed and thoroughly mixed with the bitumen or asphaltum until the asphaltene is dissolved to such an extent to obtain a penetration of from 60 to 160 D. M. depending upon the temperature in which the finished product is to be used.

Naphtha or petroleum may be used when, after distillation in driving off the volatile Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 27. 1919.

1918. Serial No. 249,187.

Fixed carbon 5 020 Ash .5 to 1.0% Bitumen soluble in carbon disulfid 85 to99 Bitumen soluble in ether 50 to 70 Specific gravity .9150 1.1%

The analysis may be varied according to the usage to which the finished product is to be applied.

To. the asphalt or asphaltic cement produced by the above or any other appropriate process there may be added a fibrous filler such as asbestos fiber, mineral wool, hemp or other suitable material. The fibrous filler 1s thoroughly mixed with and embedded in the asphalt and will add to the building up" of the desired pad or cover when applied to pulleys or sheaves and other similar surfaces and will add to the rigidity and tenacity of the cover on a wire rope or cable. This is especially 'true when the rope or cable and the sheaves are subjected to heavy work.

The proportion of the fibrous material with the asphalt depends to an extent upon the duty to be performed and the temperature in which the finished product is to be used, because in extreme cold weather asphalt of a low penetration is liable to crack and exfoliate on the same duty under which asphalt of the same penetration will give perfect satisfaction in summer heat.

A composition of this character when reduced to a fluid or semi-fluid condition by heat may be applied to wire ropes or cables and to pulleys or sheaves by pouring thereon when the said elements are in motion, or by means of a brush when they are stationary. When applied in either manner the compo sition quickly solidifies and forms a protecting cover or coat upon the surface to which it is applied, thus maintaining the wire rope or cable out of contact with the sheaves, protecting both from the wearing action of the other, and prolonging the durability of both. Thecomposition has been used and applied satisfactorily as a protecting cover or coat to wire cables and sheaves, to intermeshin'g gears having heavy duty, to sprockets and to sprocket chains, to leather belting to prevent slipping and to rubber belting where the rubber surface has become worn to an undesired extentfi In the drawings in which I have illustrated the composition applied to uses in wlhich1 .it has been very satisfactorily em- P y 7 Figure 1 is a view of a portion of a wire rope or cable and sheave having the coating applied thereto to incase the rope or cable and to protect the sheave.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the rope and a part of the sheave.

As shown the cable 1 is completely incased and embedded in the protecting coat or cover 2 of my improved composition. The composition when applied to the rope or cable completely fills the surface grooves and irregularities thereof, making a cylindrical OOVBI which is effective to hold or support the rope or cable wholly out of contact with, the operating mechanism and thus prevent the wires frombecoming worn.

Also the sheave 3 has a layer 4 of the composition in the circumferential groove, in

which the rope or cable operates. Thus both bearing surfaces which normally come into contact with each other are protected so that the cable will not wear as rapidly, nor will the sheave have notches or irregularities worn in the surface thereof by the cable. 40

Thus both elements are well protected and in practice the durability of both has been found to be very greatly prolonged.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The herein described composition, comprising a mixture of asphalt, a liquid hydrocarbon residuum which had been heated and fluxed before being mixed with the asphalt, and a quantity of fibrous material, which composition is adapted to be applied to hearing surfaces while said surfaces are in motion to form a coating upon each bearing surface and support the bearing surfaces out of contact with each other.

2. The herein described composition, comprising a quantity of fibrous material; a

. quantity of asphalt heated to a temperature of about three hundred degrees Fahrenheit before being mixed with the fibrous material; and a quantity of hydrocarbon residuum mixed with the asphalt; said composition being adapted to be placed in a heated condition upon moving bearing surfaces to form coatings which will support the bearing surfaces out of contact with each other.

3. The herein described composition, comprising asphalt composed of fixed carbon five per cent. to twenty per cent., ash one half of one per cent. to one per cent., bitu men soluble in carbon disulfid eighty-five per cent. to ninety-nine per cent., and bitumen soluble in ether fifty per cent. to seventy per cent., and having a specific gravity of fromnine-tenths of one per cent. to one and one-tenth per cent; and a quantity of fibrous material. EPHRAIM J. KEITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, 18y addressing the. Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0. 

